Borderlands 2: Mr. Torgue's Campaign of CarnageReview

EXPLOSIONS! The latest downloadable add-on for Borderlands 2, Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage, is here to deliver them by the truckload. As the owner of the Torgue Corporation, purveyors of only the boomiest of boomsticks in all the land, he tends to be a bit...extreme. As in “skydiving out of a rocket ship while drinking a six-pack of energy drinks and playing a sweet guitar solo on a flaming Fender Strat.” Apparently, another vault has been found and the word on the street is that it can only be opened if a coward's blood is spilled upon it by the biggest badass in Pandora. Naturally, Mr. Torgue decides that this calls for a tournament to decide who's really the baddest ass of them all, and who better to win it than you?

A quick, hilarious cutscene leads you right down to the Badass Crater of Badassitude (actual name, folks!) to start busting immediate caps. Having spent what seemed like an eternity slogging through endless sand dunes with barely a target to shoot at in Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate's Booty, this speedy launch into action felt entirely welcome. Mr. Torgue must hate downtime, because the firefights here are both more pitched and more frequent than about anywhere else in the Borderlands universe. Scads of muscled-up goons lace into you with high-powered explosive weapons, bike-mounted thugs harass you with nonstop strafing runs, and Torgue Enforcers leap through the air and try to pound you into submission while you scurry about for dear life. It's a breakneck pace that keeps you shooting and looting instead waiting and wandering.

Exit Theatre Mode

Even when you're in a vehicle, Campaign of Carnage keeps you entertained with constant biker attacks, and environments that feel like they've been designed explicitly for whipping your runner around and having a good time in it. Sure, you'll still be sent on a fair share of fetch quests and collect-a-thons, but thanks to the near-constant action, they never feel like a chore.

Aside from the types of mission objectives you've come to expect from the series, Campaign of Carnage also injects some arena-style battles into the mix. These call for you to take down groups of enemies within a set time limit in a variety of areas. While this speaks a bit to Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot DLC for the original Borderlands, the similarities are fleeting. It does dabble in “waves,” and has a spectator sport vibe, but Campaign of Carnage never emerges as the built-in horde mode it easily could have been, opting instead to be an actual campaign, replete with the sort of loot-laden questing and exploration that Borderlands 2 players are already well-versed in. This is by no means a bad thing, but considering the structure it sets up, not following through to what seems like the logical conclusion feels just the slightest bit disappointing.

Truck-a-saurus!!!

That isn't to say it doesn't deliver on its implied promise at all though. There are four tiered, arena-style challenges – two for straight up baddie-fragging, one objective-based challenge, and surprisingly, a pure racing challenge. Each has three tiers of difficulty, the final tier being a repeatable level 50 affair for your farming pleasure. Why would you farm these challenges over and over if you're already at the level cap? Because of the new currency that's been introduced: Torgue Tokens. You can save these puppies up and then spend them at the Torgue vending machines scattered throughout the expansion. Their catalog is stacked with high-end Torgue weaponry, and the Deal of the Day is always a bright, shiny legendary. This makes Campaign of Carnage ideal for players with max-level characters who crave a constant stream of mobs to drop in the hopes of acquiring high-end loot.

In terms of value, it's hard to argue with Campaign of Carnage’s $10 price tag. You get a 6-8 hour main campaign, at least another three hours in side missions, and the repeatable level-50 arena challenges. Plenty of new enemy variations are packed in, as well as a host of new bosses and one new max-level raid boss for seraph crystal hunters. Even better, the pop culture-laden quests, memorable boss encounters, and well-laid-out environments all smack of the kind of craftsmanship associated with a full retail release.

The Verdict

If you want to know what Borderlands 2 is all about, Campaign of Carnage is the perfect crash course. It takes the satisfying shooting action, the well-tuned loot hunt, and the inimitable character of the core game, amps it up, and beams it straight into your brain without ever stopping to breathe. Everything you love about Borderlands 2 is here in abundance. If for some reason you absolutely cannot stand its sense of humor, you may want to think twice, because it's as prevalent and over-the-top as ever here. Otherwise, Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage represents Borderlands 2 at its distilled, unapologetic best.